Editorial: Dissident republican rioting in the Ardoyne was appeased in 2012 to block Orange return march

​The Parades Commission is set to rule today on an important dispute in north Belfast.

​The row goes back more than a decade, and has its origins in a refusal to allow Orangemen to pass the Ardoyne shopfronts on their return from the Field on July 12.

It is a ban that was fully implemented in 2013 in a Parades Commission determination that had the unintended effect of appeasing dissident rioting.

There had long been disagreement about the right of Orangemen to go home past the Ardoyne in their return from the Field.

In 2012 there was a partial ban on such a return when the commission issued an absurd ruling in which Orangemen had to bus themselves to comply with it. That determination sought to facilitate a provocative dissident republican parade in the Ardoyne – an event so obviously inflammatory that even mainstream republicans, closer in outlook to Sinn Fein, distanced themselves from the dissident plan.

The fact that Orangemen abided by this foolish ruling enraged the dissident thugs that year. Not having got a full ban, there was severe and disgraceful rioting.

The 2012 episode showed the shocking tactics of dissidents, be it in the Ardoyne or elsewhere.

It also gave the impression that the authorities are terrified of seeming to want in any way to penalise hardline republicans, yet they never seem to be so concerned about annoying loyalists.

The Ardoyne shopfronts are an interface but no nationalist housing backs directly on to them, so the parade is not directly passing homes.

It would be helpful if the commission, which over the years has penalised what it sees as intransigence by the loyal orders, takes the same approach towards republican inflexibility.